A Sneak Peak

Because I know that David doesn't read my blog, I can share with you a little sneak peak at one of his presents for Valentine's Day. I wanted to get him something that he could keep for a very long time. So I thought about it and decided to find something for either his house (which needs a woman's touch) or his office (which also needs a woman's touch). I decided to get him a picture/painting of this place:

Photo via

This is the Citadel Military College in Charleston, SC where David (and his father) went to college. You can get a glimpse of the famous checkerboard floors.

Photo via

David spent many hours marching on this floor in the India Company in this lovely uniform (hehehe)

He looked really cute in his little outfit. So in honor of his time spent at the Citadel, I found a local South Carolina artist who has a lovely pen and watercolor of Bond Hall.

Bond Hall @ the Citadel
Photo via

This is what I purchased and luckily it came today just in time for David's arrival this evening.

Pretty close to the real deal, right? The print came pre-matted and the artist signed the piece again before he sent it off to me. But I wasn't really digging the white matting. So I found a black mat with a navy accent. I thought that would go nicely with the light blue, since the Citadel colors are blue and navy (imagine University of North Carolina colors).

I popped it in a frame that I found at Hobby Lobby. Which after I got it, I realized that it did have any hanging hardware on the back...which really ticked me off. So I will have to go and grab some to attach to the back so he can hang it. Grr...

The frame is a dark wood with just a hint of black at the edges. It shows up more black than it really is in these poor quality iPhone photos.

A little about the artist. His name is Lon Calhoun and his website is www.moegans.com. I think he could do some wonderful gifts for just about anyone on your list. And his prices seem to be very reasonable. Take a look at some of his work. (these pictures are from his website)

 I would love to have a painting done of Oscar, Brutus, and Jr. I think that would be perfect!

 A lovely present for your parents or in-laws - a watercolor of their house.

You can send Lon a photo of anything and he will make a drawing/painting out of it. It's absolutely perfect. And the funny thing about that cowboy graphite drawing is that it looks exactly like my brother Brad!

Ok, so hopefully you are feeling the love this weekend, now that I have shared with you part of my gift to Mr. David. Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!